Blurry Nights
by MrsCharmander
Summary: "Isn't night time meant to be spooky? Shadows and ghouls and werewolves in the forest?" "Well, I guess so. But night is when the boundaries blur, you know? Everything seems more quiet and real and poetic. Like I could keep walking forever."


**yeah you might recognise this because i published it a while ago, but deleted it in a fit of 'omg people at my school are finding my fanfic account gotta scadoo' but boy we're back in business!**

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 **i.**

I was wearing track-pants and a baggy Quidditch jumper, which were not at all the kind of clothes you want to wear when you meet someone for the first time. I guess that's exactly why I encountered Scorpius Malfoy on my way to the kitchen at 11pm to get some caffeine injected directly into my blood system –or the closest thing to that you could legally get at a school.

Of course he had dark jeans and a beanie on, looking every bit as put together as he did during the day –that is, not very.

"You're Rose, yeah?" he asked, his voice hushed and his eyes staring at mine through a veil. His voice was higher than it sounded in class, and that small realisation was enough to make me go quiet.

"Uh, yeah, that's me" I muttered back. I was surprised he knew me, but I obviously knew him. Everyone did, though he was a friend of a friend, and more of a stranger. He was one of those kids who sat in the back of class and made stupid jokes with his friends. He went out on weekends –and apparently Tuesday nights, judging from his attire- and got high in the Forbidden Forest or drunk at some bar in Hogsmeade. Nikki Zabini was close with all those boys, but not as close as she was with me, which is how I knew of him.

"Surprised to run into you this late," he muttered, before he started walking away again, "You didn't see me, okay? Later, Hufflepuff." I watched his figure retreat into the shadowed hallway, his trainers making soft sounds against the floor, before I shook my head and kept walking.

My own slipper-clad feet made much softer swishes as I padded towards the kitchen, intent on getting my coffee fix. That Herbolagy essay is due tomorrow, and it's not going to write itself.

 **ii.**

My feet hurt, but I kept jumping along to the thumping music. My hands were in the air and my straightened hair was flying around my face as I bounced in the crowd. I loved parties. People always seemed surprised when I said that, but I did. I was wearing the kind of dress you wear when you want attention,

I felt a pair of hands grab me, hugging me from behind. I craned my neck to see the long hair of Nikki at my back, smiling and hanging off me like a dead branch.

"Hey, Rose, I need to ask you something. Be real with me, don't bullshit me, okay?" Nikki slurred, tipping back and forth a bit as I laughed and wrapped my arms around her waist, leaning her against my side to hold her up.

"What's that Nikki?" I asked.

"Who's your best friend? Coz you're my best friend. But don't just say that I'm your best friend coz I said you were mine. Be honest."

"Nikki, I swear to Merlin, you are my one and only best friend." I said, straight-faced. She let go of me and clapped her hands together, laughing. I knew that for me, the party was over. There was no way I could just let my best friend run wild while she had this much alcohol in her. The pair of us hobbled to a couch on the side of the room, like a lopsided gryphon, and she leaned on me, singing under her breath.

"I don't want you to worry about me," she mumbled, flopping onto the couch and resting her chin on her chest.

"Oh, I'm not. My feet were tired though, so I want to sit down." Nikki was stubborn, and wouldn't want me looking after her. She'd get up and say that she didn't want to ruin my night, and probably wobble off and hide under a table like she did last time.

"Oh, okay. Hey, let's go find Scorpius! He's here somewhere. He's friends with the girl who's throwing this party. What's her name? Scarlotte. He knows Scarlotte, he knows me, he knows you. Let's go find him!" Nikki stumbled up and pulled me with her, determined to find her friend.

I wasn't exactly excited about this. I mean sure, the bloke had been fine the one time I'd spoken to him, but he was one of those guys you wished you could be friends with but never could be. I envied Nikki's ability to get along with everyone, and thanked Merlin that she still wanted to be my friend.

She eventually spotted the shock of blonde hair, dancing with his mates and a few girls in dresses shorter than mine, and towed me over to them.

"Scorpius! This is Rose. You know Rose." Nikki's words came out sluggishly, like she needed time to find them, and she wrapped the arm that wasn't holding my wrist around his shoulders.

"How much has she had to drink?" Scorpius said. It took a minute before I realised his question was directed at me. I jolted and tried to come up with an answer. Nikki and I had come to this party together, but there was an hour or two where we lost each other, and who knows what happened in that time?

"Oh, um, quite a lot I think. I don't know exactly how much, coz we split up for a few hours, but I know she shared a bottle of Firewhiskey with our friend Elinor, and she had a few shots of Patronus," I said, naming the popular silver spirit.

"Shit, she's fucked then," he muttered, his own words stumbling a bit. I noticed how glassy his eyes looked, and figured I was probably the only sober person in this dungeon.

"Scorpius! Kiss me! I love you, you're so pretty," Nikki mumbled, stumbling around even though we were standing still, letting go of me to give Scorpius a sloppy hug, which he clumsily returned.

"You okay?" he asked, supressing a smile.

"Yeah, I just really love you. You're my most favourite person in the world."

"Nikki, you've had a bit to much to drink. Let's get you back to your dorm, okay?" I said quickly, holding her hands down as she tried to pull up her already revealing crop top. Even though she frowned at me now, I was certain that she'd be glad I stopped her from flashing the entire fifth year and not remembering it.

I turned to Scorpius to try detaching my friend from him.

"Sorry," I explained, "she's an emotional drunk. And an overly-affectionate one."

"Oh I know. Last time she got drunk at a party she made out with Scott Davies. And Andrew Lothering. And I think Bridgette too. Want some help taking her up to her room?" Scorpius asked. I wasn't sure if bringing the guy that she kept trying to expose herself to up to her bedroom was a good idea, which apparently showed on my face, because a second later he continued, "I'm not gonna take advantage of her when she's drunk, I'd be such a twat if I did. She's my friend."

"Fine. It's not like I could carry her up eight flights of stairs by myself." I relented. Even though my Hufflepuff dorm was close to the Slytherin dungeons, only one floor below ground, the Gryffindor tower was seven stories up. She kept me up to date with the passwords, as I'd had to deliver her home on more than a few occasions.

Scorpius and I both grabbed a side of Nikki, who seemed to be dozing off, and dragged her out the dungeon. As we passed by a girl from Slytherin I knew, I yelled out, "Tell Scarlotte I said happy birthday and thanks for having us!" I guess it was kind of a long shot that she would actually remember to tell the party host, but I had to try.

After the third flight of stairs I needed a break. My arms felt like they were burning and my calves were aching something terrible. I told Scorpius I needed to stop and then leaned against a pillar to catch my breath, leaving him to hold Nikki up. By this stage she has all but passed out. Even though I always seemed to end up taking care of her, she helped me have fun, and I trusted her. I couldn't say that much about a lot of my friends.

"So," Scorpius started after I'd rested long enough and we'd resumed walking, "are you gonna flash me too?" I stared at him, opened mouthed and in shock. I barely knew him and he was going to talk to me like that?

"I just meant, are you as drunk as she is?" he amended, nodding at Nikki's sleeping face.

"Oh. No, I don't drink." I felt the need to prove to him that I was responsible, that I looked after myself. I don't know why. It's not like he cared, he went out and got high every weekend. My sobriety wouldn't impress him.

"Yeah, I guess a girl like you wouldn't," he laughed.

"What do you mean?" I asked, affronted. A girl like me? He doesn't know anything about me!

"I doubt you've done anything rebellious in your life" he said, grinning at me.

"I have so! I do lots of things. I'm a terror." I said haughtily, sticking my nose in the air. Who did he think he was, making assumptions about me? I mean, the most rebellious thing I'd done may have been staying up until 3am doing homework, but he didn't have to know that.

"Look, it's not a bad thing. I'm just saying, you don't seem like the drinking type."

"I might be." I muttered, as we arrived at The Fat Lady portrait. "I've got it from here, thanks."

Scorpius mock-saluted me before strolling away, his hands in the pockets of his black jeans. I huffed and said the password, maybe a tad aggressively as the Fat Lady glared at me as I entered. That might've just been about the tightness of my skirt, though.

I hobbled through the Common Room, ignoring the looks of people in my year and the stares of the First Years. I eventually got her into her bed, tucking her in like the amazing friend I was.

"I love you Rosie," Nikki mumbled, snuggling down into her blankets. I smiled at her before standing up and responding.

"Love you too Nikki-noodle."

I was able to make my way down to my dorm in record time. Stupid Malfoy had actually been a huge help.

 **iii.**

"Pray tell Rose, what would a girl like you be doing in a detention like this on a fine Sunday morning?" Scorpius called over his shoulder, grunting slightly as he scrubbed at a particularly dirty trophy.

"You know Malfoy, I don't know why you have this goody-goody vision of me." I said back, cursing Uncle Harry for getting his award for 'services to the school'. Alright, you killed a big snake, whoopdeedoo. I killed a cockroach the other day, but years later my nieces won't be scrubbing a plaque commemorating it.

"Rose, believe it or not, but you're a bit of a goody-goody."

"Please. I got caught sneaking out after curfew."

"Scandalous. What for? Party? Hot date?"

"Nothing that wild. I just like being out at night. It's relaxing."

I heard a laugh from across the Trophy Room. "Isn't night time meant to be spooky? Shadows and ghouls and werewolves in the forest?"

"Well, I guess so. But night is when the boundaries blur, you know? Everything seems more quiet and real and poetic. Like I could keep walking forever."

"Rose, that's the most non-rebellious act of rebellion I've ever heard."

I cackled. Like, an actual cackle. I didn't even know I could cackle in the first place.

"What were you pinged for then?" I shot back, still smiling despite the sweat on my neck.

"Oh, you know. Skipped Transfig, and when McGonagall caught me I tried to flirt my way out of it."

"I take it that went well?"

"Oh, definitely. Once I'm done scrubbing this Shield of Honour I'm picking her up for a quick trip to Puddifoots."

"Send my kind regards."

"Will do, but she'll be too busy falling in love with me to remember them."

 **iv.**

I'll be the first to admit it. Studying is boring. School is boring. Homework is boring. I don't like doing it, not even a little. Despite my good grades and my ability to charm most teachers (Professor Davis does not count. She hates everything and I suspect is part troll), I hate doing schoolwork with every fibre of my being.

Which puts me in the current position of wandering the halls at night, going to the kitchens in order to avoid doing my essay on the properties of salamander skin, despite the fact it's due tomorrow.

I mean, I only have to wake up at 6 in the morning. I have a solid four hours until then. Plenty of time to write an essay.

The elves were nowhere to be seen when I arrived at the kitchens, which was a bit of a shock, but I guess they have to sleep sometime. In contrast to the usual tiny inhabitants, there was a rather tall boy slumped over an oven, cooking an egg.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked, not quite happy about the fact that this is the second time Scorpius Malfoy has seen me in pyjamas.

"Making an egg. Thought that would've been obvious?" He queries, gesturing to the egg. "The real question is what are _you_ doing here?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Night time wander to explore the blurred lines?" He guesses, slipping his egg out of the pan and onto a plate.

"Not tonight. Grabbing a snack to avoid a Potions assignment." I sidle up to the boy I've barely started to call a friend, and snag some of his egg before he demolishes it.

"Hey!" An indignant voice fills the empty room as I ignore the burning in my throat and smile widely at him. "The great Rose is shirking assignments? Call the queen!"

"I told you, I'm not this high and mighty person you think I am."

"You manage to ace every class. Are you telling me that you don't work hard?" His hair is rumpled and his eyes are droopy from sleep, but he still managed to throw a grin my way between bites of his food.

"I don't ace every class," I force out, grimacing. I might hate work, but I hate failing more.

"Oh really? Name one." He challenges.

"Arithmancy."

"Arithmancy? That's all I'm good at."

"Lucky you."

"It's not that hard, you know. I could help if you like?"

"Thanks, I appreciate it. But I'll struggle through it on my own. I don't like people babying me." I run my fingers through my tangled mop of hair, smiling slightly, however forced it may be.

"If that's how you feel. But I wouldn't be babying you. You could hex circles around me in Transfiguration, I know you're smarter than me."

"Not at Arithmancy," I quip, throwing him a genuine smile this time.

"I guess not," he smiles back. We talked for a few more minutes before he headed to bed and I headed back to my dorm, dreading the parchment that waited for me.

I shouldn't have gone to the kitchens, it was a bad choice. Now I only had three hours. Three hours and a bite of egg.

 **v.**

"Rose! What did you get on the Charms test? I thought I did well, but I only got 96 percent. You know I crack under pressure."

I was leaving Charms after reviewing a particularly gruesome test, and I had a small frown etched on my face. I hated comparing marks with my friends, but it seemed like that's all we did these days.

"I got, uh, I got 91." I admitted, knowing that it was a good score. But somehow I doubted it'd be good enough for Eloise.

"Oh! Well, that's a really good mark. Good job!" Her voice was laced with her classic 'oh, how cute, you tried!' tone. She smiled briefly at me, before turning to the girls next to us and asking Rebecca what she got. I loved my friends, they were fun and just my brand of weird, but they had the tendency to obsess over grades.

Students streamed around us as we made our way to the Great Hall for lunch, and I focused enough to catch Eloise and Rebecca still discussing their results. I craned my neck around, searching for the loud group of people at the Gryffindor table, where I knew I'd find Nikki at the centre. When I spotted the crowd, I nudged Eloise.

"I'm just gonna say hi to Nikki. Save me a seat?" I asked, and the girls nodded and went to find our regular spot on the Hufflepuff table.

"Don't miss me too much!" Rebecca called over her shoulder, winking at me.

"I'll try, but it'll be impossible!"

I made my way to my small friend, where she sat with some kids in our year I'd gotten to know fairly well. She hugged me, pulling me down into the seat next to her, and plonking a plate in front of me.

"You staying for long before ditching us for your group?" She enquired, pouring me a glass of pumpkin juice.

"I'll stay for a bit, but I promised them I'd hang out this lunch." Nikki groaned, rolling her eyes. She didn't exactly keep her opinions about my friends to herself. I recall her saying, and this is an exact quote, "Eloise is so stuck up and Lucy tells her everything, so it's impossible to trust her, and Rebecca the sassiest person I've met. Merlin knows how they made it into Hufflepuff. I know they hate me. They give me the bitchy faces when I walk past!" I remember laughing and assuring Nikki that no, they didn't hate her. My friends just have naturally bitchy expressions. I've heard Eloise complain about it multiple times.

"Hey Troy, got anything planned for the weekend?" I nodded to the boy across the table from me, sipping my drink. Troy Goldstien was a tall, gangly boy, with sandy hair and Bambi eyes.

"I think Scorpius and I are going out. A friend of his knows the manager of a club that's opening in Hogsmeade. You?"

Oh yeah, he also happened to be Scorpius Malfoy's best friend.

"Sounds splendid. I think I'm staying here. Unfortunately, I don't know many club owners."

"We can't all be so well connected," he winked at me, before turning away to talk to some boys he was on the Quidditch team with. I chatted to everyone else for a little longer, before I finished my juice and excused myself to go back to my House table, waving goodbye to Nikki.

"Hope you're not all lost without me!" I exclaimed, plonking myself in the open space between Lucy and Rebecca.

"As long as there's food here, we could never be lost." Eloise remarked from across the table, though it was slightly muffled by the copious amounts of bread in her mouth.

"Ew, El! Didn't your mum teach you table manners?" Rebecca squealed, throwing a napkin at our friend.

"You know my mum, of course she did. I'm just expressing myself while she isn't here to wallop me!"

"Oh do I know your mum. Think we can come over again in the holidays and she'll make her pavlova?" I said, resting my head in my hands. The mere thought of Mrs Pardot making her pavlova had me salivating.

"She'd do it for you, Rosie, you are her favourite." El said, thankfully, after swallowing her mouthful.

"As I should be!"

We talked for a while longer, before students started making their way to afternoon class. I groaned and put down my fork, abandoning the potato salad, before checking my timetable and announcing my impending death.

"Double Arithmancy! Write good speeches for my funeral ladies, I want to see tears on every face." My friends laughed, but I readied myself for their speeches on how I just needed to apply myself fully and dedicate more time to homework and less on sleeping. I stuck my tongue out at them, before dragging Lucy away and leaving the other two in our wake.

I had Arithmancy with Lucy, so we walked together to class, lugging our equally large book bags.

Halfway through a discussion about extra credit work, my attention was caught by a shock of blond hair making it's way through the crowd. A similarly eye-catching face was attached to it, followed by a pretty nice body.

"What do you have now?" Scorpius asked, as he drew near. I heard Lucy stop talking, as she glared at the boy who interrupted her.

"Double Arithmancy. Think I'd rather die." I grinned at him, wiggling my arm to display the giant numerology book it was holding.

"I feel for you. I've got Transfig. Want to trade?" He joked.

"Pull off a red wig and you've got yourself a deal."

"If only. Red washes me out."

"I'd better head off if I want to make it in time. See you at our joint funeral?" I asked, noticing that the amount of rushing students was subsiding, meaning class started soon.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Scorpius started walking away, leaving me to watch him fix his tie and Lucy to question my sanity.

"What was that all about?" She demanded, dragging me along to class.

"We're friends. Friends talk to each other between classes. Nothing special," I replied, despite the fact I still had a dumb smile plastered onto my face.

"Since when are you friends with _him_?" The judgement was clear in Lucy's voice. She obviously thought he was slack or stupid or both. I grimaced a little, sick of my friends basing so much of their opinion on academics.

"I guess there's some things you don't know about me," I replied snarkily, "Now lets go or we'll be late."

And thus I willingly subjected myself to two hours of mathematical torture, with only the image of Scorpius in a red wig to tide me over.

 **vi.**

I woke with a jolt, ripped from my pleasant dreams of fields filled with daisies and a golden unicorn foal. I cast my blurred gaze around the darkened room, seeing the still forms of my friends and dorm-mates. Everyone appeared to be asleep, and the night was still. There was no reason for me to have woken. Rubbing my eyes, I collapsed back into my pillows, intent to get a proper night's sleep before my Saturday of group study with Eloise, Lucy and Rebecca.

I had started drifting off again, before I heard the noise that must have woken me up before. A tapping at the window. I looked above my bed, where the noise seemed to be coming from. Grass lined the bottom of the windowsill, seeing as the Hufflepuff Dorms only just peeked above ground. In the bright moonlight, I could see the outline of a small copper owl.

Careful not to wake the other girls, I unlatched the window and let the bird in, shushing it when it hooted a little too enthusiastically. It flew around my head, unwilling to deliver the small note tied to its ankle. After a few minutes of struggling, an overenthusiastic nip and a string of swears, I managed to seize the parchment, and read it while sucking on my now-bleeding finger.

I unrolled the small letter. The writing was messy and at times, ineligible, but I was able to decipher it after a few minutes of holding it up to the moonlight, all the while this bloody owl was flapping the room.

 _Rosie,_

 _Troy and me locked out. Forgot to leave the doors in the Grand Entrance open. Please come let us in and we'll love you forever._

 _Scorpius_

 _P.S Bring pumpkin juice and your wand. Thanks._

I grinned, shaking my head at my friend. Typical. For a Slytherin, he could be a bit of an idiot at times. I grabbed my quill from where I left it on my bedside table, rummaged through my draw for a bottle of ink, and wrote a messy reply.

 _Meet me at the big beech tree in front of the lake. You owe me one!_

 _P.S You're such a dummy_

 _P.P.S Your owl bit me and I demand payback_

I tied the note to the owl after a few for minutes of struggling with the little devil-owl before sending it on its way. I snuck about my room, grabbing a pair of muggle jeans, a sweater and some boots, before heading to the kitchens to get some juice.

It was some time later that I found myself stumbling over the roots of the beech tree, carrying a pitcher. I was too scared to light my wand in direct view of the castle and all it's teachers, so I made use of the bright full-moon and prayed that there were no wild werewolves running about.

"Say you love me." I instructed when I found the two boys lying on the ground.

"I love you. Now bring me the juice." Troy said, holding his arms out to me. Laughing, I handed it over before sitting next to his friend. I watched as Troy downed nearly the whole jug, some spilling onto his jumper.

"You too," I teased, nudging Scorpius's shoulder and twirling my wand between my fingers.

His bloodshot eyes found mine and he smiled so big that the moon glinted off his teeth. I furrowed my brows at his appearance. He looked wrecked, and his body was swaying slightly. I recalled Troy's words about the two of them going to a club opening.

"I love you." His words sent jitters to my stomach, though it was probably just from the nerves of being so near to the castle while breaking the rules. If I got caught out here with two boys, who were obviously on something, it would mean more than just a Sunday morning detention.

"I bet you say that to all the girls," I joked.

"Only the ones who sneak out and bring me juice."

"Juice that you have had none of. I believe Troy just finished the last mouthful." I pointed out, indicating to the boy who had now dropped the pitcher and was attempting to climb the tree we sat under.

"What a fucker. If it wasn't for me owling you, we wouldn't even have juice." Scorpius scowled, obviously annoyed.

"You raise a good point. Why did you owl me?" I asked, voicing the thing I had been thinking all night.

"Nikki would have been offended we didn't invite her out, the Quidditch boys would have laughed and gone back to sleep, and Troy's girlfriend doesn't like him doing drugs." Scorpius explained, stumbling over some of the words, while confirming that they were indeed on something a little stronger than Firewhiskey.

"Ah, I see." I went back to twirling my wand, while pretending like I wasn't slightly offended that I was the fourth choice.

"And," Scorpius interjected, "I wanted to see you."

Warmth flooded my body. I smiled at the ground as we watched the moon hit the water in front of us. The Giant Squid was causing ripples in the water as it glided along, occasionally lifting a tentacle out of the water.

"I know what you mean," Scorpius said after a while, "about the boundaries blurring in the night. It feels more real but more like a fairy tale, all at once."

"That was almost poetic," I mumbled, my eyes growing heavier as I rested my head on Scorpius's shoulder.

"I learnt from the best." He replied. The night went on. The squid frolicked. Scorpius apologized for choosing such an aggressive owl. He held my hand and rubbed the wound on my finger. My body hummed.

Troy fell out of the tree.

 **vii.**

"Do you ever think that we spend too much time together at ungodly hours of the night?" I ask on one of our adventures. Surely most friends spend more time together during the day than the night.

"Maybe we do. Maybe it's our thing." He replies, the leaves crunching beneath our feet as we wander.

"Don't you ever get tired of it though?"

"Rosie, you're worth losing sleep over."

 **viii.**

"What are your plans for this sunny Sunday?" I enquired, sliding next to Scorpius at the Slytherin table, despite the glares from some of his more brutish housemates. He had long ago become my best friend, and the Slytherin's should have been well used to my presence.

He faced me with eyebrows raised and a bagel sticking out of his mouth, not hiding the dark circles under his eyes.

"From the way you're looking at me, I assume we're doing something." I says, once the bagel has been successfully dislodged from his mouth.

"Wow, you're a smart one. My friends organised a study group for a subject I'm not taking, and Nikki is going to a detention, leaving me friendless." I bite his discarded bagel, blanching when I taste the cream cheese. I ignore his protests and smear on a healthy layer of the only acceptable bagel filler, and take a bite of my newly avacado'd breakfast.

"I'm offended!" He announced, sticking his nose into the air.

"Oh get over it, it's just a bagel,"

"No, I'm offended that I am your third choice. You're only spending time with me because everyone else is busy. But I will have some more of that, thanks." He rips off a piece of the pivotal bagel.

"Well," I started, chewing my/his/our bagel, "I also just want to spend time with you." I grin as I mimic our night time conversation, spouting out his words that he has no-doubt forgotten. By now I'm used to him not remembering what we talk about when he's higher than a hippogriff. We've gotten into the bad habit of going for midnight tours of the forest.

"Aw, you make my heart sing." He says, sarcastically batting his eyes at me. "So what are we doing, then?"

"Brownies. We're doing brownies."

"You finally relenting and joining the big, bad world of illegal substances?" He smirks.

"As tempting as that sounds, I was actually planning on making brownies without drugs. Sorry to burst your bubble."

"One day, Rosie. One day you'll cave."

"You're a bad influence on me."

"And you've changed me, woman. You think I ever voluntarily make brownies on a Sunday morning?"

"Your life sounds depressingly lacking in chocolate."

"Good thing I've got you."

I tried to ignore the fluttering in my midriff.

 **ix.**

Nikki and I sifted through racks of clothes at Gladrags. They'd opened up a new branch in Hogsmeade and we had been waiting for our first trip for weeks.

"Would this make me look slutty in a good way or slutty in a slutty way?" Nikki enquired, holding up a low-plunging playsuit up to her petite body.

I tilted my head, trying to picture her wearing it before I answered.

"Depends how you wear it. You could pull it off though. Try it on." She smiled at me before I turned back to the clothing racks. I flicked through dress after shirt after skirt, rejecting each one in my head. Too short, too tight, too big, too _orange._

"Rose, try this on." Nikki's voice pulled my eyes away from the rack and onto the dress she was holding up.

"I dunno, it might look a bit drab on me…" I trailed off, trying to imagine myself in the backless black and white plaid dress.

"Rose please, nothing ever looks drab on you. Try it on while I try the playsuit! We can get changing rooms next to each other." I let myself get dragged to the changing rooms while a small smile took over my face.

I slid on the dress and came out to show Nikki, all the while being complimented by the sales-witch ("Oh that looks lovely! We have a coat that would match it perfectly! And a two-for-one sale on stockings.")

"Rose, you look great. If you don't get it, I'll buy it for you for Christmas." Nikki said, looking stunning in her outfit.

"You look even better. You should buy that."

She turned in the mirror, eyeing herself the whole time.

"Mmm, you know, I think it's the bad kind of slutty. I'll pass." The sales assistant gasped and stormed off, nose in the air.

"Was it something I said?" Nikki cackled, before returning to her dressing room.

We spent a few more hours browsing the Hogsmeade shops, before heading the to Hog's Head for a butterbeer.

We lounged about our table in the back corner, taking guesses at the names and stories of the patrons sitting at the bar.

"See that vampire by the pickled eggs jar? I bet her name is like, Gladys or Ruth or something old fashioned, but she wasn't bitten that long ago. I bet people are always asking her about the 1800's and she just bullshits them because she's really only fifty years old." Nikki said, pointing to the young-looking woman in a black gown. I laughed along, before pointing to the man who's face was wrapped entirely in bandages, and groaned loudly from time to time.

"He's called Erik, obviously German. He's drinking German beer. He used to study marine magizoology, went diving in underwater caves to learn more about Merpeople, but quit after he got attacked by a kelpie, which is why he's covered his face. He moans out of sheer misery over the life he could have had."

"Mine was better."

"Probably. You're way too good at this," I reply.

"Yes, I am. Oh, see that guy that just walked in? I bet he goes out every weekend and comes home absolutely wasted. He probably has an amazing best friend called Nikki Zabini who he wants to buy another butterbeer for." Nikki said, her voice growing louder as the boy she was talking about walked towards us.

"In your dreams, loser," Scorpius said, pushing away the mug she was holding out expectantly and seating himself on the chair next to mine.

"Where's Troy?" I ask, not used to seeing Scorpius in public without his best friend by his side. Nikki frowns from across the table, put out by the rejection.

"He's on a date with Amelia Greengrass. Don't know why, she's downright annoying." Nikki and I both nod, remembering Third Year Herbology with the girl. There's only so much high-pitched nasally giggling I can take without developing a hatred for someone.

"Where are your friends?" Scorp asks, directing his question at me.

"What am I, chopped fucking liver?" Nikki says, laughing.

"Nah, you know you're not that tasty." I shoot back, copping a smack on the arm.

"The Study Squad didn't want to come down today, they have more 'important' things to focus on." Nikki remarks, answering Scorpius's question for me.

"Hey, they aren't as bad as you think they are!" I defend my fellow Puffs. Honestly, my friends are a little obsessive, but Nikki makes them out to be demons.

"Still, they're not as good as me, are they?" Scorpius throws me a cheeky grin, finishing the last of my drink.

"At least they don't steal my food," I grumble, glaring at the boy beside me.

"Need I remind you of the constant theft that takes place whenever you sit a the Slytherin table?" He replies, and I have to blush at the memories of all the food I have stolen over the year.

"Touché."

"Anyway, I should probably go find Troy. By now he's either in love with Amelia or clawing has ears out, and either way he needs my help. Catch you two later," Scorpius stands and leaves the bar, though not before poking my nose.

"So," Nikki begins, "if I didn't know any better, I'd say you fancy him." I nearly choke on my complimentary peanut.

"Good thing you know me so well." I reply after a brief coughing fit. Nikki doesn't seem to be sated by my response, and her brown eyes glimmer as she watched me. I hate when she looks that smug, because Nikki always knows when she's right. She knows that Scorpius and I have gotten more close than they are, and she knows that the redness in my cheeks is from more than a liberal amount of butterbeer.

 **x.**

"So there's a party in the Forbidden Forest tonight," Scorpius said, sitting next to me in the library. He flipped the chair backwards to straddle it instead of sitting on it like a regular human, which made me bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. Rebecca and Lucy didn't seem to find it amusing, sending glares at Scorpius and trying to focus on their books.

"Mmm?" I ask, distracted as I flip through _Witch to Watch; Guide to Transfiguration_ looking for a quote for my essay. Aha! _When performing the spell 'Crescode' the user must remain stoic, or the effect will not be as strong…_

"You should come," he prompted gently, as if he was talking to a first year.

"Maybe. Who else is going?" I said, scribbling down my quote and marking the page number. I try to ignore the looks my friends are giving me, as if saying 'why are you even considering this?'

"Oh just some Slytherins. Troy will be there, you're friends with Troy."

"I wouldn't say friends, you just showed up to my dorm room asking for juice at 3am and now he sits with us in History of Magic," I scoffed, "But I'll go. Nothing better to do."

Of course I was going to go; when had I ever said no to Scorpius? I was kind of disgusted at myself by how easily he could make me do things.

"Cool, meet you in the Great Hall at midnight?" He ruffled my hair before de-straddling the chair and strolling off.

"Get your shit together Rose." I mutter to myself, ignoring the insistent 'shh!' that comes from the girls opposite to me.

 **xi.**

Easter Holidays had arrived. The time to bond with your family and eat chocolate and sleep knowing there was nothing due the next day. So obviously I was at Scorpius's house, watching movies on my beaten-up laptop on his bed.

It was something special, being able to watch his face as I introduced him to the closest thing muggles had to magic. His eyes lit up and the pixels danced in their reflection. His mouth hung open as he tried to understand that the screen could hold so many moving photos. The first X-Men movie was a blur; I'd been so focused on the boy next to me. But by now we had made our way through the first few movies, and I was able to focus on the actual plot. Barely.

Halfway through our zombie movie marathon, his leg went dead and my neck hurt from craning to see the screen. We shuffled around, moving blankets and pillows to try and find the perfect position.

After some adjustment we found ourselves pressed tightly together, his warm hands resting on my hips and his breath on my neck as my back ran along his stomach. I ignored the blood rushing to my cheeks and pretended like I was just overheating.

"This is comfiest," he whispered, and I almost laughed as his warm words tickled my ear. I could feel his chin moving as he spoke.

"Definitely." I replied, though my arm was aching already and I could tell he was straining his head to see over my hair.

But still, we both acted like this was perfect and perhaps it was because when I went to his house every day of the holidays we always seemed to find ourselves doing the same thing, only with different movies.

 **xii.**

"The moon is fuzzy tonight,"

"Why is that?"

"I dunno, I dropped out of Astronomy in Fourth Year. Pollution?"

"Maybe it's the night blurring the lines."

"Maybe. Pass the chocolate milk?"

 **xiii.**

Do you ever do something for someone, despite knowing that you'll hate it.

Well that, my friend, is exactly why I found myself going running at 5am, despite the fact that it was a Wednesday morning and snow littered the ground. I had reluctantly agreed to jog with Scorpius, who was a few paces ahead of me, because he promised to help me in Arithmancy, a subject that was growing increasingly difficult and increasingly hard to pass. My pride has to be kicked away if I didn't want a furious Hermione Granger on my tail.

Which leads me to jogging in a sweatshirt because Scorpius is on a health kick and because he's willing to trade his mathematical services and because he promised to buy me a slab of fudge and because I'm absurdly happy to be sharing laboured breaths at 5am as long as it's with him.

 **xiv.**

"Hold my hand?" He whispered into the darkness, head on my shoulder.

"You're high," I say, as if my heart wasn't thumping at a million miles a minute.

"And you're observant. Hold my hand."

I slip my fingers into his, because he won't remember in the morning, because I will, because every fibre of my body is telling me to, because I think I may love him, just a little.

Because at night time the lines blur.

 **xv.**

There's a moment in everyone's life where everything they know falters. Where there seems to be a glitch in the world.

When my mum wrote to me, saying that my dad had moved out because they just weren't 'seeing eye-to-eye on some issues' I cried. I skipped my first ever lesson. I felt my world shatter as I imagined two Christmasses, two Easters, two birthday dinners and two separated parents.

I felt the very core of what I'd built my foundation on crumble. If they couldn't make things work, the two people who seemed to be made for each other, then who could? Who's to say that anyone could make love work?

I found my brother in an old Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, and we huddled together under a cobwebbed desk.

 **xvi.**

"You know, you're the only person in my life who hasn't fucked me over." Scorpius told me, as my head lay on the crook of his back in his dorm. I was reading _Nausea_ in an attempt to seem philosophical and intelligent. He was reading a Care of Magical Creatures textbook, in an attempt to follow the guidelines I set up when I agreed to tutor him.

"You're the only person in my life who knows every part of my mind," I reply, my eyes moving but the words falling straight out of my head.

"You're the only person who I've ever spent hours with, and it doesn't just feel like we're filling in time. It feels like we're doing something special."

"You're the only person who I've planned to travel with after school. You're the only person I'll stay on a beach with and watch the stars reflect off the waves."

"You're the only person who I've cried over. That time when we didn't talk because of me being an overprotective dickhead. You said you hated me and I cried."

"You're the only person who I've snuck out to see."

"You're the only person who knows me."

"You're the only person that I go to when I need someone."

Then his dorm mates burst into the room I could feel his body jolt under me when he realised that we weren't the only people on earth.

 **xvii.**

All I could smell was him. I could smell his cologne with every breath I took. It came from his jumper I was wearing, it came from his hair that I was burying my face into and it came from his breath on me.

It overwhelmed me and made me forget why exactly we were here, holding each other in some empty corridor at 3am.

"It's been thirteen minutes." He mumbled, trying not to shatter the silence that surrounded us.

"I'm aware," I whispered back.

"Are you going to let go?"

"But then you win."

And so we hugged for twenty-eight minutes, until we heard the wheezing of Filch, following by the low yowl of his new cat, and we let each other go at the same time, declaring a tie.

 **xviii.**

We were in a tree. The same tree we sat under the time I brought juice to him and Troy, the same tree we study under every Tuesday afternoon, the same tree where we held hands under the moonlight, and the same tree where I told him that I don't know if I believed in love any more.

Like most times we were together, the stars were lighting us up, and things felt like that weird twist of magical and real.

"Scorp," My voice floated into the night.

"Mmm?" He replied. Our fingers were interlaced so we didn't lose heat or each other.

"I'm glad I've got you."

"Rose?"

"Mmm?" I turned to face the boy who had plagued my mind for months, and who had very quickly forced his way into my life.

"I'm glad you've got me too."

"Who else would you watch the stars with?"

"I'd be asleep. You showed me the stars. I didn't even know they existed before you."

"Wow, no wonder you dropped out of Astronomy. You must've been pretty bored of looking at a blank sky."

His throaty laugh found it's way to my ears and I closed my eyes, smiling. This was how things should be. Cool and dark and lazy and quiet.

And somehow, in the darkness, Scorpius pressed his lips to mine and it was soft and sleepy and effortless. All I could think about was the warmth of his lips on my cold face and how there must be steam rising into the air around us and how I hoped we wouldn't fall out of this tree because it would certainly put a dampener on the mood and how this seemed to be the start of the perfect fairy tale that I had long since stopped believing in.

I guess things blur at night.

###


End file.
